Assassination, formerly called A Sabriel Fic
by Saraneth
Summary: Sabriel and Touchstone deal with the assassination attempt described in Lirael. Chapter 3 is finally up! And I changed the title! [R&R]
1. Angry Touchstone

Chapter 1  
  
It had not been a great evening. Only a few hours ago there was an attempted assassination on the Abhorsen Queen of the Old Kingdom, Sabriel. A man at a royal dinner party tried to stab her with a serving fork, but to no avail. He missed, and King Touchstone was on him right away. His violent temper had come out, and the King picked the man up, and hurled him straight across the table. The Royal Guard immediately apprehended the man, who calls himself Barb, before Touchstone could kill him himself.  
  
"If I got my hands on him I would have rung his neck like a slain duck!" screamed Touchstone, who was speaking with Sabriel in their room. "How dare he! May Charter help him if I see his face ever again."  
  
"Now, now Touchstone," replied Sabriel, her midnight black hair flowing eloquently. "The important thing is that we're all safe.for now. Do you think he may have been working for some kind of hidden evil?"  
  
"I don't know," started Touchstone, whose usually pale face was still beat red with anger, "He may have been. But if he was, I think they would try something a little more grand than trying to stab you with a serving fork."  
  
"Yes," agreed Sabriel. "Perhaps we should go question him? Just to be safe."  
  
Touchstone looked into his wife's gray eyes, "Perhaps. Not publicly. He can have his trial after we talk to him."  
  
The King and Queen's conversation was cut short when their two children, Ellimere and Sameth, burst into the room. Thirteen-year-old Sameth reached his Mother first, embracing her with a big hug. Ellimere, who was fourteen, got there not moment after, also throwing a hug around her Mother.  
  
"Mother! Are you alright?" asked both children eagerly, still worried about their Mother after the incident of a few hours ago.  
  
"Yes children, I'm fine," replied Sabriel, in her sweet tone of voice. "You were there; he completely missed me."  
  
"We know Mother," sighed Ellimere. "But I just had to take the initiative and make sure." Sabriel stared at her growing daughter intently. She had Sabriel's black hair, and Touchstone's green eyes. Sabriel knew she would one day be Queen, while Sam would take the role of Abhorsen.  
  
"Well thank you for your concern children, but your Mother is just fine. Now go to bed you two," commanded Touchstone, his temper cooling off a bit.  
  
His son looked at him, and then gave him a high five. "That was bloody awesome what you did to that guy tonight! Goodnight!" With that, both Prince Sameth and Princess Ellimere left the room, leaving Touchstone and Sabriel to themselves again.  
  
Touchstone then stood up, and walked across the satin rugged floor to Queen Sabriel. "Perhaps we should go interrogate the bastard now." 


	2. We Have a Mole!

1 Chapter 2  
  
It was approximately 1 hour later. Sabriel and Touchstone were at the dungeon, getting ready to question Barb. "You may see the prisoner now," said Colonel Blank, chief of the dungeon.  
  
"Thank you," replied Sabriel nicely. "It shouldn't take more than an hour or two." With that, Sabriel and Touchstone pushed past the guards, and to Barb's cell, where he would be locked in chains. They entered the room, and the hairs on their backs stood on end. With no further warning, Barb jumped up from his position, and onto Sabriel.  
  
He clawed at her for about a second, before he was viciously ripped off by Touchstone. The King unsheathed his sword, which was flowing with Charter marks, and sliced it right through the decaying form which was once Barb. Sabriel then stood up and took out the bells. The strong powerful voice of Saraneth rang, followed by the walking powers of Kibeth. Within a minute, the creature was gone, and everyone in the building was with Queen Sabriel and King Touchstone.  
  
"Abhorsen! King! Are you alright?" It was the voices of many, all asking the same question. Curious people were peering in to see what happened. Sabriel and Touchstone stood up, and turned around, just in time to see the Colonel rushing in.  
  
"We're fine, we're fine!" shouted Touchstone, trying to be heard over the noise and commotion. "Colonel we must speak to you!" With that, the Colonel came bounding over to Sabriel and Touchstone, and led them through the crowd to his office.  
  
"Now, what happened in there?!" asked Colonel Blank eagerly, his eyes staring intently at the two. "Are you sure your ok? We heard bells!"  
  
"Yes, Colonel, we're fine. But the matter is that we ran into a Dead creature! A creature that was Barb only hours ago!" Sabriel threw her hair back, and continued. "That obviously means he was murdered! How could you not notice someone sneaking in, and killing one of your own prisoners? Let alone the fact that you can sense both Death, and Life being ripped out of someone!"  
  
"Well, just for your information, I just got back in an hour ago, and everything was fine," retorted the Colonel, a little offended at the accusation. "Maybe it happened while I was gone."  
  
"How would the crew on duty not notice someone coming in then?" asked Touchstone. "Or perhaps it was someone in your crew?"  
  
"Possibly. But why would they want to kill him?" asked the Colonel.  
  
"To keep him from talking," started Sabriel. "A Living servant of the Dead hired to keep Barb's mouth shut. I've seen it before."  
  
"Yes, and to attack us at the time of questioning, for a second chance," added Touchstone. "I suppose we should go investigate your crew." Everyone in the room nodded at the idea, and the three of them got up, heading to the steel door. The Colonel opened the door, and the three were in the hallway, where things had calmed down a bit.  
  
"Everybody! May I have your attention!" cried Colonel Blank. "One of you.is a mole. One of the Dead's servants hired to kill that man! Reveal yourself!" Not a second after the Colonel finished, a uniformed figure bolted out the door.  
  
"Well that must be our man. Let's go, Sabriel, Colonel, and of course the Royal Guard!" yelled Touchstone, ordering the capture of the man. So the group ran out after the man, chasing his barely visible figure through the streets. Sabriel, who had a sudden burst of energy, caught up to the man, and jumped on him, pulling both her and the man down onto the paved ground of the streets of Belisaere. She turned him over and looked at his face just as the others arrived.  
  
He was a rather atrocious looking man, Sabriel noted. He had greasy black hair, a nose that was obviously broken out of its original shape many times, and a beard that hadn't been shaved since who knows when. A member from the Royal Guard pulled Sabriel out of her thoughts as he handcuffed the man, and led him back down the streets to the Guard station. Once inside, the man was brought into Blank's office, tied to a chair, and left with Sabriel, Touchstone, and Colonel Blank.  
  
"Walkins!" exclaimed the Colonel, at sight of the man. "Your Highnesses, this Christopher Walkins, recently hired as a Guardsman. Obviously those weren't his intentions."  
  
"Well Mr. Walkins," started Touchstone, the anger returning to his eyes. "Spill it. What do you know?"  
  
"N-nothing. Nothing at all sir!" replied the "guard" nervously.  
  
"Then why did you run away? Why didn't you notice someone sneaking in on your shift, or the Life being ripped out of someone? Or is that Charter mark you bear false?" asked Touchstone, glancing at the man's Charter mark.  
  
"Well, I guess we'll have to see if it's real or not," stated Sabriel, as she leaned in towards Walkins. The moment she touched his Charter mark, it crumbled off his forehead, a clear sign of its corruptness. "Sir, tell us everything, and we just might spare you." 


	3. The Lady Necromancer

Sorry for the long wait. Ok, so it's been over a year. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, etc. And for that matter, I don't really own the first part of the plot since it's just a continuation of a story told in Lirael. They all belong to Garth Nix.  
  
And so for the rest of the night, the King and Queen interrogated the one known as Christopher Walkins. He was very reluctant to talk, and it was hard to get anything out of him. Sabriel stared at his ugly face and scruffy body as he sat, Charter Spelled to the chair. "Mr. Walkins, you have committed a heinous crime against the Kingdom. Tell us, who are you working for?"  
  
"I'll never tell," Walkins managed to squeak out, terrified. "My master... she will kill me. I can not speak." Touchstone reached across the table and smacked the man across the face. Tears started rolling down his face. "I can not tell!" he cried out once more.  
  
"And who is she?" asked Touchstone, becoming frustrated. "Please, just tell us! We will not harm you. This woman cannot harm you here. She cannot get to you here," Touchstone pleaded. Still the man would not comply. Sabriel sighed. This same ordeal had been going on for at least three hours. They would not be able to get through to him.  
  
"I am sorry then," she said after some thought. "But I shall have to force you." With that Sabriel reached to her pouch of bells, where she pulled out Dyrim, the speaker. It was not common for a wielder of bells to use them on the living, but it could be done. As Sabriel stood to ring it, Walkins screamed out, telling her not to. She hesitated and let him speak.  
  
"Please, please do not ring that," he begged. "I shall tell you, and it shall cause my life. I am working for.. working for her. The lady necromancer. She promised me gold and silver."  
  
"Who is she?" asked Sabriel again. "Who is this woman necromancer you speak of?"  
  
"Her name is Chlorr. She wears a mask of bronze. She is very powerful," he sobbed. "She is going to infiltrate. Soon, soon, as she continues to break Charter Stones and gather a legion of Dead."  
  
"Ah, Chlorr! I should have known. She escaped me in our last confrontation about 10 months ago, but not unscathed. I slashed her face with my sword. As she turned to retreat, I saw it. There was a large cut all the way down her face, with burn marks covering the areas around it," Sabriel reminisced. Before she could continue talking, her Death sense went on end. However, she and Touchstone were not quick enough to react. A shadow as black as night struck like lightning over Walkins, covering him and entering him through his mouth and nose. Kibeth rang, and the Dead thing was banished. But Christopher Walkins was dead, as he had predicted...  
  
The next morning, Sabriel and Touchstone arose. Today Sabriel planned on taking a Paperwing south to the last town Chlorr had terrorized, Callibe. Touchstone, however, would be going to the Sindle area to fix a broken Charter Stone. They were both now dressed. They gave each other a hug and kiss before they headed out of their bedroom. "I do not need your help, Touchstone," Sabriel reassured him again. "I can handle Chlorr on my own. Besides, I will be taking our two best Charter Mages on the Guard." She kissed him again and smiled. The two walked hand-in-hand out of the castle and through the courtyard, to where a Paperwing and many of the Guard were waiting. Also waiting were their two children.  
  
"Goodbye mother!" Exclaimed Ellimere. "Good luck mother!" Shouted Sam. And they both ran to hug their mother. After embracing, Sabriel put on her flying goggles and hopped into the Paperwing. Her two companions, Jarnel and Sarai, stepped into the back of the Paperwing, which was accommodated for two passengers. Sabriel had made this one a few years ago, and its name was Eagle's Eye, named in honor of the first Paperwing she had ever flown. The crowd waiting watched as Sabriel whistled two loud notes, followed in chorus by the two in the back. The Paperwing jumped into the air, and sped southward.  
  
Touchstone smiled and silently wished his wife luck, and then he knelt to hug his two children. "I too will be leaving, but only for a bit," he assured them. "Be good for Jall Oren and the rest of the adults," Touchstone said with a laughing glance towards the men around him. Ellimere and Sameth were in their second month of vacation from their Anclestirrian schools, and would be going back in one month. The three shared one last hug, and then the whole group turned and headed across to the Eastern courtyard, where a fleet of Guard would be waiting to escort Touchstone.  
  
(Sorry this one is kind of short. Please don't nag me saying he couldn't have worked for Chlorr, or that Sabriel didn't put Chlorr in that mask, cause it's my story hah. What will happen next? Find out in chapter 4, whenever that may be! Please read and review.) 


End file.
